Duane "DBV" Varney

Funeral services for Duane Varney, 77, of Eagle Butte, were Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 11:00AM, MST, at St. John's Episcopal Church, Eagle Butte, with Reverend Norman Blue Coat officiating. Music was provided by the Blue Coat Girls, Susie Payne and Billie Iron Hawk. Casketbearers were Mike Ducheneaux, Jeff Bowker, Johnny Holloway, Ira Blue Coat, Kenny White Eyes, Kaden "Yazzam" Drew, Wade Ducheneaux and Gail Tinnet. An all-night wake began with prayer services at 7:00PM Tuesday. Following the funeral service, Duane was cremated and his remains scattered on Varney Butte. Duane entered the spirit world January 6, 2012 at the Eagle Butte IHS Hospital. Stout Family Funeral Home of Mobridge was in charge of services.

Duane "DBV" Varney was born on July 30th, 1934 in Rhame, ND to Lloyd and Sylvia Varney.  As most of you know he was raised by his Uncle Fred Bercier in Portland Oregon. Duane was the first out of six children in his family to graduate from high school, graduating from Battleground, Washington.

In 1953 he joined the United States Army and was deployed to Korea. Duane was discharged in 1956. He married Judy Berriman, on Nov. 21, 1957 and to this union two sons were born, Jan and Dean.  In 1959 Duane and Uncle Fred hoped the freight train and road the rails all the way to Mobridge. In 1960 Judy joined him at Cheyenne River. He worked for various ranchers and in construction where he learned his several trades. He was employed by Jack Keckler, Dave Ganje, Gib LeBeau and Tony Rivers to name a few. Duane was then hired by Cheyenne River Housing Authority as a maintenance man and continued to work there for 21 years until his retirement in August of 2011.

Duane had a passion for cars including buying and fixing them. He took pictures of all of the vehicles he owned, and referred to them as his babies. He also loved attending his family reunions; wherever they were, he was sure to go. Duane sometimes took friends from home on his family adventures. He cherished these memories, speaking often of  them.

Duane loved life and enjoyed fishing, hunting and rolling dice with his many friends.  He enjoyed listening to music and especially like to boogalo on the dance floor.  But his greatest passion was his Green Bay Packers, and he never backed down from a bet.  DBV was quite the traveler and would pick up and go on a weekend. He would most likely be found in Fort Pierre or Timber Lake visiting friends. Duane was a very generous man and would lend a hand to anyone that needed it. He lived life to its fullest all the way up to the time of his death. After being diagnosed with cancer he said "he had a great time here on earth, and was going to have a great time where he was going." He entered the spirit world on January 6, 2012 at the Eagle Butte Indian Health Services Hospital.

He is survived by his sons Jan (Amy) of Marysville, Ohio and Dean (Michelle) of Imbler, Oregon, 6 grandchildren, Olivia, Anthony, August, Lenore, Shylinn and Emily; two sisters Thelma "Booty" (Dick) Goldsberg of Poland, Maine &  Marcella Allen of Portland, Oregon and one brother George (Glad) Varney of Eugene, Oregon.

He was preceded in death by his parents Lloyd and Silvia Varney, a brother Dick Varney, Uncle Fred Bercier and special friends, Henrietta Lind, Charles Haskell and Darrel Becker.